Chapter 4 - Hunter
I can see the conflict writ in Delilah's eyes, her brows furrowed as her brain works a million miles a second to decide if it's a good idea to marry me or not.
She's weighing her options, calculating the risks and probabilities, just like any good soldier would.
Intrigued, I don't probe her, not wanting to rush her process. It's a thrilling scene to witness, her meticulous calculations flickering through her eyes.
I missed this.
I missed seeing the bold, courageous she-wolf with mystic abilities in her element. She may be the only daughter of the alpha of a highly esteemed ancient pack, but she's a warrior.
And that's the part that's always been appealing.
Clenching my jaw to stop the flow of blood to my core when arousal simmers from being so close, I have to stop breathing altogether when she rises to her feet, and the gentle gust of air carries her scent to my airways.
Roses. Sweet and floral, but with a hint of spice that tells of her feisty side. She's a beautiful rose that can draw blood with her thorns.
And those thorns are sharp now when she glares at me, anger turning her earlobes red behind the veil of her long, dark hair.
That anger pulses in the flare of her nostrils, and I know this isn't a good time to tell her that I have ulterior motives for marrying her.
She's made it clear that she hates me for breaking her heart, but that doesn't mean I'm going to watch her make the biggest mistake of her life by marrying someone else.
The thought of her with someone else twists my gut, and my inner wolf would have waged war on anyone who touched her. Though I have no leg to stand on when it comes to staking my claim as her mate, using the excuse of the squad seemed like the right thing to do.
Especially when she snatches the marriage license from my hand with a growl and glares at the dotted line at the bottom.
She's made up her mind.
“Give me a pen,” she huffs as she sticks out a palm.
I nod slowly as I lean in, our eyes meeting briefly before I pull back and hold up the pen I retrieved from the bookshelf behind her. The moment of tension is cut short when she tears her eyes from mine, and I'm partially grateful that it's lost.
I might have thrown caution to the wind and done something despicable, like kissing her when she hates me. She'd only hate me more for it.
“Here you go.”
Delilah snags the pen from my fingers and crouches at the coffee table, her fingers trembling with hesitation before she ultimately signs her name on the dotted line.
A wave of relief washes over me as her signature symbolizes the seal of protection, keeping her safe from marrying another man.
She's mine.
She always was. She always will be.
Now it's just official, and I have the unique opportunity of winning over the heart I know hates me because I broke it once.
It's fragile, but Delilah is still a rose full of thorns that will prick me if I'm not careful, and I need to tread with caution if I plan on lifting that rose to my nose and taking a huge sniff of a scent that was made only for me.
“I'm only doing this for the squad,” Delilah huffs as she slaps the marriage license against my chest. “Now, can we go back to Portland? They'll be looking for us.”
Grinning when she turns and marches to the door of the motel room I booked while I prepared the impromptu marriage, my chest puffs with a sense of accomplishment.
Delilah Hargreeves doesn't know it yet, but she just signed up to get a makeover on her life, starting with us working as a team now that we're married.
“How tacky…” she mumbles, her nose scrunching when she steps onto the porch area. She takes a look at our surroundings and shivers, her disgusted expression ensnaring me when our eyes meet.
“Sorry,” I shrug nonchalantly. “I didn't have time to get us a honeymoon suite in a five-star hotel.”
“Of course not!” Her laugh is sarcastic as she slaps the back of her hand on my chest. “Security is tight in fancy joints. They would have caught you bringing in your victim and stopped you.”
“Want me to make up for kidnapping you?” I point to the door. “We could go back inside.”
Delilah catches onto what I'm implying and growls as she turns to face me, her eyes narrowed as she glares at me. A single, delicate finger pointed between my eyes is like a sharp dagger of warning.
“Don't. You. Dare,” she warns, her nostrils flaring again. “This is only an arrangement for convenience, nothing else. Don't get any funny ideas, Hunter Black. I'm never sleeping with you ever again.”
“Right! Got it!” I raise my hands in a show of surrender, breathing out a sigh of relief when she steps back. “Besides, that's not why I'm doing this. It's only for our squad, sweetheart.”
She snaps back at me with furious eyes. “Don't call me that!” she roars at me. “And we're not telling them about this. Let's just keep it between us, until we can get to Scarborough and I can tell my parents you're my”—she pauses to shiver—“husband.”
Pursing my lips, I only nod briskly at Delilah's firm instructions before she spins around and storms down the two steps leading to the depressing garden on the side. Folding the marriage license and tucking it into my pocket, I follow her into the forest, where we have to cross the Gulf of Maine.
Luckily, there's a rowboat waiting for us—the one I stole from the bank on Portland's side—and I proudly show Delilah our mode of transport with a grin.
“That's how we got here?” she asks, looking anything but pleased.
“Yeah,” I reply as I uncoil the rope tying the boat in place. “I found it—”
“Spare me the details!” she exclaims as she settles into the boat. “It's creepy enough that you did what you did. I don't need to know anything else.”
Delilah crosses her arms and tilts her chin to the side as if she's repulsed by the boat, leading me to wonder when she changed.
She's never been conceited or snobbish, considering she was in black ops with the guys, and isn't a stranger to roughing it out. But she's acting that way now, and it's probably because I just forced her into marrying me.
Is she so repulsed by me?
I shouldn't be feeling insecure when I know I did the right thing, but there's still that mistake I made in the past, hanging between us like a stormy dark cloud.
She's not going to forgive me for that, but she won't have any option but to go along with us being a team.
We're married now.
It hardly feels like any significant change when we reach the docks, and I climb out onto the ramp to offer her a hand. She doesn't even look at my hand as she climbs out, using the log pole as leverage instead.
“We're off to a good start,” I murmur under my breath, awkwardly shoving my hands into my pockets as I follow Delilah into the main town.
We pass by some of Tyler's pack members tending to the crops on our way, and they stop mid-task to wave at us. Delilah is marching forward with her arms crossed, indifferent and cold to Moonshine's warmth, so I plaster on a huge smile and wave back at the guys.
From our left, a border patrol soldier comes jogging toward us in wolf form. I slow down and turn to him, realizing it's Tyler's beta when he transforms and greets us.
“Hunter… Delilah…” Brutus nods at each of us with a tight expression, and Delilah frowns at me.
“Alpha Tyler requires your presence in the pack den.”
“Our presence?” Delilah points at her chest. “What's this about?”
Brutus gulps, a solemn look of concern flashing through his eyes.
“It's an emergency meeting, Delilah. Even Alpha Dominic is here.”
“Dom is here? But Cecelia would be going into labor today! Did something happen to her?”
Before Brutus can respond, Delilah races through the forest toward the pack den in the southern part of Portland. I exchange a brief glance with Brutus, but rush forward after Delilah.
She's already at the pack den, panting heavily, just as Tyler comes out and notices me coming forward.
“Finally! We've been looking all over for you!” he exclaims, looking flustered, dark circles rimming his eyes as if he hasn't slept all night.
“We were—er—” Delilah nervously glances over her shoulder at me. “We were doing some fishing. What happened?” She steps forward, nimbly changing the subject. “Is Cecelia okay?”
Tyler nods. “Cecelia is fine. But Ari is shaken.”
“Ari?” Delilah frowns as she steps into the pack den, and I approach Tyler.
“It's quite urgent, Hunter,” Tyler says as he steps aside to allow me in. “I had to call Dominic over. Luckily, his wife isn't due for a few hours. I tried calling you.”
“Yeah, I left my phone in the guesthouse. Didn't want it getting lost in the river.”
Tyler nods, his brows slanted skeptically as I pass him, and I wonder if he suspects something sinister is going on between Delilah and me.
But when I see Delilah crouched beside Arianna, soothing her shoulders with both hands, I realize that Tyler is probably just ruffled by whatever his mate went through.
Once we're all inside the pack den, Tyler explains that Arianna had a vision that shook her to the core.
She looks up, her bottom lip trembling when she adds, “It was so dark…so evil…it was the dark lord…” She whimpers. “I think I've met him before; his face was familiar, even though it was different. He must have masked it. While I was out in the human world.”
Everyone turns to Tyler when none of what his mate said makes sense.
“Arianna lived in the human world for a while when I was in black ops. There, she met a man who she believes was linked to the mutated rogue who hunted her down. The one we got rid of on our last mission,” he explains.
“But the rogue said something before he died. He said he was working for the dark lord, a warlock. And Arianna suspects that the stranger who visited her was the dark lord.”
“Is the dark lord on our tails now?” Nicholas asks calmly.